Fantasy Basketball Daily Notes

After a day of giving thanks, fantasy owners got a huge boost while scarfing microwaved plates of Thanksgiving leftovers with Russell Westbrook healing up and putting on a historic comeback off the broken hand. Is this guy’s bones made of Adamantium or what?! Señor Westback seems to beat his timetable every injury the past few years, which I don’t know if it’s really a good or bad thing… Can heal fast, but is gettin’ hurt a lot! Reckless Russell. The made-for-TV Skinimax sequel to Wreck-It Ralph starring Russell Westback. I’d watch that! Although they’re apparently making a Wreck-It Ralph2, which I hope embraces some Grand Theft Auto elements. Would make sense to star Russell Westback! Rated R, sorry kids… It’s like confusing them with Death to Smoochy having a purple dinosaur. Anyway, Westbrook absolutely torched the Knicks last Friday night in his return for 32/7/8 hitting 12-17 shots and notching three treys. Twas the first 32 Pts 8 Ast game in 24 minutes or less in the shot-clock era. It was like stealing the car, then running over the driver trying to sprint away for good measure. Even though it’s “just” his hand, got a huge layoff from that game until facing the Pelicans tomorrow. Plenty of time to catch up on his turkey leftovers, and refuel to give fantasy owners that first-round production for the bulk of the season ahead. So drop the confetti, and welcome Westback! But let’s hope it’s a little less Reckless, and we’ll take 25/5/5 every 24 minutes without any issues… Here’s what else went on around the league since we’ve been off from Thanksgiving:

After successful wrist surgery on Tuesday, Kevin Martin is expected to miss 6-8 weeks. Martin broke his wrist the previous week in a Minnesota win over the New York Knicks. The crazy thing is that Martin hurt his wrist in the first quarter and ended up scoring 34 points in the game. He was 6-9 from downtown with a broken wrist! Too bad everyone can’t play that well through their injuries!

It’s a big blow to the Timberwolves who are already missing Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic. Replacing Kevin Martin in the starting lineup is Corey Brewer. He’s not as pure of a shooter as Martin, but Brewer will provide points and steals for as long as he’s starting. His minutes have already jumped from 23.5 to 31.2 per game since Martin went down.

Without Martin’s 3-point prowess, the T’Wolves will need another shooter to step up. Enter Mo Williams. He was already seeing an increase in minutes due to Rubio’s injury, but should see even more 3-point looks. In two games without Martin, Williams has seen his 3-point attempts rise from 1.8 to 5.5 per night. It’s a small sample size, but Williams is a cheap source of threes, points, and assists.

Already owned in most leagues, Andrew Wiggins should see increased opportunities as well. Since Martin went down, Wiggins has taken 14+ shots a night, after not taking more than 13 shots in any game prior. With any rookie, there will be some growing pains, but it’s clear that the Timberwolves want Wiggins to take on more of a role on offense.

Happy Thanksgiving Razzball Nation! This is my last daily recap for the week, so wishing everyone a happy Turkey Day where we can take a day off hoops, watch football, then shame eat pounds of leftovers while watching Goran Dragic standing idly by as he gets no usage for the Suns this weekend…

But what better way to sendoff into the Holiday weekend with the Six-Foot-Turkey himself, Dr. Ersan Ilyasova. While he’s averaging under 21 minutes a game in the past five games (That doesn’t look very scary!), the consistency is kinda preposterous right now. Is exactly in 20-21 minutes in five straight as Kidd apparently knows Ersan’s optimal usage, and has scored 13+ points in all of them. Multi-3PTM in three of those five, grabbing a few boards, and actually a semi-usable player right now off 13/9/0/1/0 and two treys last night. It’s bottom-end 12er worthy, but in limited-move RCLs, I grabbed him Monday to use for a four-game week and like him for matchups play. A low-end ThrAGNOF with some boards! What the wire is for, and even though he’s owned in 44% of Yahoo leagues, it’s a little inflated by dead/auto-draft teams given his silly pre-draft ranks by a lot of experts. I’m keeping that Turkey fresh and might even hold on through next week as well, and then gobbling down the rest of my leftovers before week 7 and the Bucks’ two-game week. Threes ain’t got no face! And I’d be just plain sick of all the Turkey leftovers at that point… Here’s what else went down last night in fantasy hoops action:

If you’re a Harry Potter fan, then you’re in the wrong place. Gave me a punny title! All you’re good for, Rowling… Some friends tried to get me into that noise and there’s like these whore-cruxes hidden around the world or some crap?! Made no sense at all. Get enough whore-cruxes in half the reality shows out there…

Through a few comments over the last couple weeks, I feel like I’ve had to fight for Donald Sloan as a guy to hold onto and not give up for a peanut shell and ABC gum. The sell-high label still applies, but sometimes you gotta just ride the broom like a whore-crux! No idea what that means. Huge night from Sloan in a shocking win at Dallas going 10-14 FG (3-5 3PTM 6-9 FT) 29/2/5/1/0 all with only one turnover. It’s been a little under the radar since he’s not a huge dimer, but has 2 TO or fewer in 9 straight games. Somebody get Michael Carter-Williams some Sloan tape for the film room! Despite a little bit of a struggle at the stripe last night, is well over 80% on freebies this year. Really his only knocks are low steals and FG%, but if I’m getting mad at MCW (which is tough to do after last night!), all the sudden Sloan’s numbers are looking mighty tasty. I still think whatever you get in a trade won’t be worth just riding Sloan another month, as George Hill‘s knee is rumored to keep him out until the latter part of December now. And Sloan’s big play should have him above C.J. Watson, who is also lingering into December with trench foot. Who knows, maybe the Pacers go crazy and start Hill and Sloan when Hill is back anyway, and play Stuckey as a 6th man. Sloan’s been a big part of any success the Pacers have had, so he’ll certainly remain in the rotation. I’ve written Sloan’s name enough for the open here, let’s start gushing over some more of JB’s favs who did well last night:

The injury gods were working overtime this weekend, as big ol’ Roy Hibbert landed funky on his ankle and left very early in the Pacers’ game Saturday. The bad news continues to floweth down the bad news river in Indianapolis. Drown your sorrows in onion rings, Pacers fans! Not gonna have any other rings any time soon. “That was mean, JB!” I’m rooting for Paul George to come back healthy next year and shock the Cavs in the playoffs, don’t you worry. But back to the issue at hand, when Howard Cosell made the call “Down goes Hibbert!” I immediately had something bubbling up inside [Mahin]me. Certainly not one of the premiere backup Cs in the NBA, but Ian Mahinmi is passable, and a solid short-term add for some early-week big man upside. Mahinmi carried the torch with the starters for an all-leagues usable 12/10/1/3/1 line in only 26 minutes, without even finishing down the stretch as the Suns went full supernova to the Pacers white/brown dwarves (I don’t wanna say one or the other, might get into trouble…). The backup Frenchy could easily go 10/10 with 2 swats in a few starts early this week. Tonight is against a gimpy Tyson Chandler who tweaked his kankle, then Wednesday against a Spurs team who have struggled to handle bigs since Tiago Splitter has been in a siesta. So while I Mahin-Me, I hope while reading this there is time to Mahin-You! Here’s what else went down over the weekend in fantasy basketball:

I don’t think you have to pay the John Wall ($9,600) price tag tonight at PG. Kyle Lowry ($7,800) is going up against Kyrie Irving ($8,800) who doesn’t really like to play defense. I think Lowry is a bit under priced and with a O/U around 211, it’s nice to get a stud PG in a game like this.

Mario Chalmers ($5,800) has been really good the last four games with Dwyane Wade out. Averaging 35.5 mins, 19 ppg, and 32.56 Draft Kings points over that span. The match up against Orlando is just OK on paper but for a PG under 6k getting those kind of minutes sign me up.

Tony Wroten ($5,600) started at SG on Friday night. If he keeps starting then you can’t pass up the price here.

Flip Saunders finally wised up and decided to start Mo Williams ($4,700). He faces a Kings team that isn’t good at stopping the PG. Even though his price as risen he is still a nice value.

Young players Michael Carter-Williams and Victor Oladipo returned to their respective teams last week, after missing the first few weeks due to injury. This week, the Washington Wizards welcomed back shooting guard Bradley Beal. He came off the bench to a standing ovation (or rather, the 25 fans in attendance stood up and cheered), but impressed in his first game of the season. In 26 minutes, Beal scored 20 points, with 3 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 3PTM. It was only one game, but expect Beal to put up similar lines all season. He averaged 17.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, and 3.3 apg last season and I expect those numbers to rise slightly this year.

Now that Beal is back, owners should move on from Garrett Temple and Otto Porter. Garrett Temple started off hot, but has since cooled off and will go back to being a reserve and defensive replacement. In Wednesday’s game against the Mavericks, Temple threw a 3-pointer off the side of the basket and then air balled another three on the same possession! Porter is more offensively gifted than Temple and will have a good game off the bench here and there, but look elsewhere for more consistent production.

Dollah makes me hollah! So imagine what $100 would do to me?! Probably a head explosion like in Scanners.

And when DraftKings told me they were throwing us another RAZZBALL ONLY CONTEST, my head exploded with comparable outward force. Yes, the Razzball Only Contest is back, and you can only get to it from my internet-yelling, all caps linkity link right there. Only 20 spots will be open to readers; in reality it’s only 18 since Slim and I are in there. The entry fee is $10, with first place taking home that head-exploding $100 bill. $100 for first, $50 for second, and $25 for 3rd and 4th place. That’s $200 for the 20 $10 spots, and for you regular daily players out there, that means no rake. Just Razzball Nation taking on Razzball nation, with DraftKings giving us the platform.

As always, you can follow me with the “jbrazzball” entry, and talk some mad game at me in the comments if you slap me around. A perfect Friday for Slapsgiving! So hit the link, sign up, and let’s get the contest filled so we can play all year, “Yes. We. Can.”

Here’s five of my picks for tonight in a typically big slate of Friday games, so pick bold and live long and prosper!

Wrong calls, right calls, as long as I’m always closing! I have that same Baldwin-demeanor when I prep my DraftKings line-up. I rally my players with a speech like that! The RAZZBALL ONLY CONTEST is back tonight(!); get your entries in now, and the DraftKings only post will be up later in the day. I don’t ask from much from you loyal readers in Razzball Nation, but let’s get this contest filled out this week! Click that link there, it’s only $10, and they take no profit, just Razzball v. Razzball, mano y mano.

It was a light night for news with only the two games, so I figured it was a good day for patting my back! The Ramon Sessions signing clouded an otherwise already dreamy outlook, but I didn’t let it deter me from my Darren Collison love! Brought in for serious skrilla, the Kings just happened to land a quality guy in Sessions for peanuts, and even though it hasn’t worked out, they don’t have much tied into him. With two fantastic scorers in Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins, I knew passing on Colly would be folly, and had him green light go! Obviously I didn’t think he’d be this good, but the joints keep rollin’ with dimebag after dimebag! 17/6/12/1/1 last night, second game in a row with 10+ dimes, and 23:1 AST:TO in that span. We all knew he could slash, but with the dimes this high and the low TO, he’s turning into a premiere PG. After last night and owning Kirk Hinrich, Collison was like, “That’s who Tom Thibodeau praises for defense?! Must be why he praises Krispy Kreme burgers – for the health benefits!” Here’s what else went down last night in NBA hoops:

After Mo Williams was moved back into the starting line-up last night, he showed his Rubio-esqueness going 14/3/13 in a fantastic dimebag performance. The chosen player for the open this morning, I asked Mo to interview me and my method for compartmentalizing everything fantasy basketball into a daily recap:

Mo:I feel ya. So what’d you think about my facilitating last night? Pretty sick line back in the starting 5.

JB: Well, I don’t really watch the NBA. There’s no sports I like to watch, so I make them up myself and watch them again, and it’s the best thing… But even in my self-created NBA, it was pretty impressive. The way you can distribute while making time go slow… Or fast… As you please… And how you know it doesn’t exist.

Mo: I have been turning back the clock, that’s for sure! That baby Zach LaVine is way behind me for fantasy these days, right?

JB: There’s a duality to it. So when one thought goes into your mind, it’s not just one thought, it has to bounce off both hemispheres of the brain. When you’re thinking “yes”, you’re thinking “no”. It’s a tool for understanding. It comes from a place of oneness.

Mo: I have no idea what the F you’re saying. Just tell me, am I a good medium-term value until Ricky Rubio gets his ankle all healed up?!

JB: If he wants his muscles to grow, he has to shock them. If you want society to change, you have to shock them. That’s what art is, shocking people.

JB: You never learn anything in school. Think about how many people die in hospitals every day. Med school? What’s up with that!? I still haven’t been to med school and I haven’t died in a hospital, I can’t see how med school is really helping anyone out… Same with LaVine, in whatever universal form he occupies…